THE HEAT IS ON
ON-SITE APPRAISAL
Rob Monto, left, now head of RCO’s Emerging Technologies Office, in Afghanistan in May 2011 when he was with PM Battle Command (now PM Mission Command). He was there fielding kit and piloting enhanced capabilities. (U.S. Army photo)
exercise, which took place at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, assessed different capabilities against a series of set threats. Te data shared from that event helped mature and advance elec- tronic warfare prototypes that RCO moved forward to field in Europe beginning in January 2018.
“With burn-offs, we’ll be able to determine if the technology is tangible now,” Monto said. “We’ll demonstrate it and see how well it works. For industry, this could potentially lead to addi- tional demonstrations, prototyping and, if [the technology is] mature enough, limited production opportunities. Most impor- tantly, it’s a way to find solutions to capability gaps faster, by placing small bets in several different technology areas. It may only be a 70 or 80 percent solution, but it meets an urgent need, while helping to inform long-term programs in the months or years to come.”
Tis year RCO is participating in several burn-offs. Te first came in March, when RCO partnered with the REF and the Project Manager (PM) for Electronic Warfare and Cyber on a burn-off at Yuma Proving Ground. Tis event assessed immedi- ate, short-term and long-term capabilities for mounted, tactical electronic warfare systems that can provide electronic support and attack capabilities to enable freedom of maneuver in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Also in March, RCO teamed up with the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to examine alternative PNT capabilities at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Indiana. RCO led the PNT portion of the SOCOM event to demonstrate non- GPS solutions in an operational environment. Tis environment
includes open, forested and urban terrains, as well as day and night operations in multiple weather scenarios.
Later in the year, RCO will hold additional burn-off-type events, to look at artificial intelligence for electronic warfare and at aer- ial electronic support and electronic attack capability.
When the Army finds that a capability, or the performance of a specific system, is exceptional compared with the rest of the industry, there may be an opportunity to quickly procure and deploy a minimal number of those systems to address opera- tional needs. By participating in the burn-offs, industry partners also gain an awareness of their systems’ strengths and limita- tions vis-à-vis Army requirements, enabling them to better focus their investments of internal research and development funding.
“Te burn-offs support a new concept we are evolving this year,” said Douglas K. Wiltsie, director of RCO. “What we want to be able to do is address a capability gap in terms of: Decompose the problem, engineer the problem and see if there’s technology that will allow us to get started very, very quickly. Te intent is to put the problem out there and find the best of breed that is available today, and move out.”
For more information, go to
http://rapidcapabilitiesoffice.army. mil or follow RCO at
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ us-army-RCO.
—MS. NANCY JONES-BONBREST
38
Army AL&T Magazine
April-June 2018
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